be going to the gate right away. >> reporter: al madadi was immediately taken into custody for questioning. qatar's ambassador to the united states has released a statement about the air scare. it says "we respect the necessity for security on air travel, but this diplomat was traveling on my instructions and was not engaged in threatening activity. the fact also reveal this is a mistake and we urge all concerned parties to avoid reckless judgment and speculation." we had summer-like heat and today we have some of those summer-like storms. >> it is starting out now as a quiet morning. let's look outside. we have 73 degrees at 4:30. chuck, yesterday my car thermometer got up to 99 degrees as i was driving through rockville. >> no kidding? >> yes. >> that's crazy. >> tell me about it. >> that's just crazy.

i don't know, that big black stretch of yours, joe, we have to get a more accurate thing on that. tell your driver to go faster. toasty warm it was not 99 degrees. as you get out on the open road surfaces like that, sometimes because of the pavement temperature it can skew off the car thermometer a bit. this morning, feels like another summery start. temperatures in the low to mid 70s. frederick, maryland, down to 64. that's a cooler spot. 70 in martinsburg, west virginia. our forecast for today, increasing clouds, showers and thunderstorms rolling in, but probably not until late this afternoon and evening. heaviest rains and shower chances coming after 8:00 p.m. this evening. for tomorrow, a lingering shower or two first thing this time tomorrow morning. sunshine breaking out by tomorrow afternoon it will feel cooler than average tomorrow, believe it or not, temperatures will stay in the mid to high 50s

that will feel down right cold compared to the back-to-back 90s we've had. it's going to be a toasty one today, jerry. temperatures up into the mid 80s once again. >> chuck, we will be prepared. let's see how we're doing. early morning thursday morning commute getting under way. quiet northbound and southbound right now. as you make the trip on the capital beltway no hangups. let's see how we're doing along 270 southbound there was overnight road work headed out of gaithersburg, they are in the process of picking that up. northbound still working on the roadway, but no significant delays so far. joe, eun, good morning. >> thank you very much. rescue crews in west virginia are going back into a mine to look for four missing miners. an explosion on monday killed 25 others. since then crews have been ventilating the mine letting out the toxic gases. the mine was expected to be safe enough to enter at 4:30 this

morning. jay gray has the latest. >> reporter: day three of the rescue effort began with crews saying they're going back into the mine. >> we're focused. it is what it is this is what we're dealing with now. >> reporter: as the frantic rescue effort continues in the mountains of west virginia. >> it's scary. very scary. >> reporter: we're learning more about what happened inside the upper big branch mine at the time of the blast. >> it became very severe winds. dust, dirt, debris blowing. >> reporter: stanley stewart just started his shift. as he made his way back to the surface and safety t quickly became clear dozens of his friends had not. >> these guys that are still in there, they're gone, and people

don't understand the camaraderie between coal miners. >> reporter: a silent march in memory of those lost and the four still missing. >> it's powerful, because nobody understands coming from a coal town what it's like. for everybody to know how close knit our community is, it's amazing. >> reporter: a strength they have come to rely on as so many here struggle through this tragedy. jay gray, nbc news, raleigh county, west virginia. >> it might take two to three hours to reach that section where officials believe the last of the miners might be. the earliest time they might get there is 7:00 a.m. two people are dead and third injured after an suv collided with a truck. the suv caught on fire after the crash on donaldson avenue near

walnut grove road. the victims were pronounced dead at the scene. there's no word on the third victim's collision. police are trying to figure out what happened. a warning to people in northwest washington there have been nearly a dozen robberies in the u street area in the last week. the most disturbing happened tuesday night in the 1400 block of q street. three men attacked a pedestrian even though there were several witnesses in the area. ten other robberies have been reported since march 29th. most were in the 17th street and 14th street corridors and on massachusetts and connecticut avenues. one of the suspects may be the same in several of those robberies. new this morning, president obama has now landed in prague to sign the nuclear arms reduction treaty with russian president dmitry medvedev. the white house hopes it will garner international support to put pressure on iran and north korea and keep nuclear materials out of the wrong hands.

brookehart has the story. >> reporter: president obama arrived in prague, first high-level greeting then on to the point of his trip with president medvedev, the so-called new start treaty shrinks both arsenals by about one-third and the role of remaining warheads in u.s. strategy. >> the president will say, look, we need nuclear weapons just to deter a nuclear attack on the united states, not for a whole range of other threats. >> reporter: the treaty does meet senate approval. some republicans say it sends the wrong message that the u.s. is backing off a key tool at its dispense. >> they want more money for nuclear weapons modernization, a big issue, they would like a pledge not to put restrictions on future missile defense deployment. >> reporter: the white house opens the u.s./russian cooperation helps unify nations to prevent iran from building its own nuclear arsenal.

that message will carry over to next week. the president hosts 46 nations including russia and china for a nuclear summit aimed at finding agreement on how to stop the spread of nuclear material. brook hart, nbc news. two airlines talking about come palestini combining fleets. and what set off the gun scare at a d.c. school. today we could get another taste of summer storms when

4:40 is your time. a live look at the capital this morning on your early start to your day. mild temperatures out there, but we could get some relief from the heat. >> yes, because we might get some storms later on. chuck bell is here. >> we are under the gun for shower and thunderstorm chances coming up later today. the emphases is on later. i believe this is, instead of the usual time frame, the 3:00 to 8:00 time frame, this is about three to five hours later. in downtown d.c. and the immediate suburbs it's probably after 6:00, 7:00 this evening before the heavier showers and thunderstorms roll in. here is doppler. raining now from columbus, ohio, down through cincinnati,

louisville. that whole area of rain shower also gradually work its way to the east. it will take quite awhile to get here. temperatures are mild, low to mid 70s across the area. as soon as you get ready to send the kids out to the bus stops it will be an outdoor recess day today. bus stop temperatures in the mid to high 60s, low 70s. any rain chances should hold off until after the kids get home from school. most rain chances wrapping up 5:00, 6:00 at the latest. >> we are doing well this morning, no weather-related traffic concerns at this hour. that's good news. along new york avenue from anacosta to the 3rd street tunnel moving along well. 207 and montgomery county stretch of the beltway moving all right. a power pole down by johnson

road a little detour through the neighborhood. other than that, looking good now. >> 4:41 is your time now. a new problem for toyota. >> it has do with an old e-mail. >> and the confederate controversy, why virginia governor bob mcdonald is apologizing. and emergency workers run into an

a bb gun scare led to a scare at a prestigious school in the district and two kids are facing charges. police got a 911 call yesterday morning alerting them to someone holding a gun in a car near st. albans school. the school was locked down as the grounds were searched of the national cathedral where the school is located. >> a subsequent canvas resulted in the discovery of what was believed to be a long gun in the the back of a vehicle on the campus. >> that long gun turned out to be a bb gun. an 18-year-old student and another student were arrested. they're facing charges of illegal possession and illegal transportation of a bb gun. d.c. fire and ems were so overloaded with calls this week that one shooting victim never got an ambulance. he had to ride to the hospital on a fire truck. so what happened and how are emergency crewing going to make sure this don't happen again?

news 4's jackie bensen reports. >> reporter: there are more ambulances on d.c. streets after an unexpected shortage. on tuesday afternoon a gunshot victim left this shooting scene not in an ambulance, but on a fire truck. it happened about 4:00 p.m. in in the 4300 block of 3rd street southeast. officials say the fire engine with a paramedic onboard arrived in about three minutes. >> the ems unit was coming from a great distance. after he was treated, stabilized, the decision was made to transport him on the fire engine. although that's not extraordinary, it is a bit unusual. >> reporter: where were the more than three dozen d.c. ambulances on duty at any given time? officials say the unexpected record heat and crowds of visitors who flocked to see the famous cherry blossom trees drew calls for emergency medical services above normal levels. >> yesterday between 10:00 a.m.

and 6:00 p.m., our busiest time, we had over 300 calls for service. typically in a 24-hour period we'll handle about 425, maybe 450 calls on a busy day. >> reporter: not a factor, officials say, are new procedures put in place after an ambulance crew failed to take 2-year-old stephanie stephens to a hospital in february. she died of pneumonia hours later. a criminal review of an emergency medical technician's actions is under way. d.c. council member phil mendelson who chairs the council's public safety committee says he had some questions about what happened tuesday. jackie benson, news 4. newly released e-mails between toyota executives reveal serious concerns about how the company was dealing with safety problems. an internal e-mail from a toyota pr executives urges colleagues to come clean about accelerator problems in vehicles five days before the company announced a massive recall in january. the e-mail was obtained by the associated press. irv miller is the executive who

sent it. he has since retired. in the note miller said he hopes toyota wouldn't be put out of business while finding a solution to the accelerator problem. mibill mcdonal is apologizi because he only highlighted the confedera confederacy. the naacp is among those groups offended. >> if you put the spotlight on the confederacy, put the spotlight on the confederacy in the proper way. it was a rebellion. those soldiers that represented a rebellion of the government of the united states of america. >> mcdonnell added a a passage saying it is important for all virgins to understand the institution of slavery led to this war and was an evil and

inhumane practice. the first responders of the 9/11 attacks in new york are suffering health problems eight years later. many suffered respiratory problems and lung damage after they were exposed to the toxic dust at the world trade center sites. michelle fran zinzin has more. >> reporter: it is the latest study to look at fire workers exposed to the toxic smoke and debris after the initial days and weeks after the attack and the findings show many have severe and persistent lung damage. >> tells us this drop in lung function was real. there's an objective cause for their symptoms. >> reporter: for the first time, doctors compared lung function tests of nearly 13,000 firefighters and rescue workers before 9/11 to the seven years of data collected for the world trade center medical monitoring problem.

>> it was a fire. it was burning jet fuel. it pulverized two of the largest buildings on the planet. this created something new. it created dramatic decline in lung function that persisted. this explains those symptoms. there can be no doubt now about the impact of the world trade center on lufrpg function. >> reporter: but the study does not include construction and demolition workers like john field also there in those initial days and also have symptoms. >> there are thousands just like the fdny which are proof that we are south africa our heroic work. >> reporter: and some have died. medical examiners linked several deaths to the exposure of toxic dust at the world trade center site. lawmakers are hoping this study will help get a compensation bill passed this summer. >> it is long past due to our heroes who were there for us, it

is time for us. >> reporter: those suffering from respiratory problems will need years of monitoring and medical treatment to improve their condition. michelle franzen, nbc news, new york. time again for traffic and weather on the ones. >> usually we don't like rain, with the pollen covering everything, we need it to wash everything away. >> the pollen count went from the 400 range two days ago to the 4,000 range. >> we can feel it. we could feel it. >> yes. everything out there. every tree known to man and earth started pollinating because of the 90 degree weather. temperatures outside this morning are still summery mild. 73 degrees in washington, a little cooler back out to the west. elkins, west virginia, 45. the dew point, the measure of moisture in the atmosphere, into the mid and high 50s around town. starting to get that hint of humidity in the air. near record heat was again yesterday. becoming a little bit on the

humid side going through today. the increasing cloud also lead to showers and thunderstorms by this evening. the heaviest of which should be arriving here in the d.c. metro area after 8:00 or so. your four-day forecast here, this is it. this is the end of a little early hint of summer around here for a while. cooler weather moves back in tomorrow with highs in the 50s. a breezy northwest wind. and then as we head towards saturday and sunday, mrechtity of sunshine. temperatu temperatures still tolerable. >> let's see how the commute is going this thursday morning. inbounds along interstate 66, bright headlights coming at us out of manassas towards fair oaks, towards vienna, no worries, travel lanes are open. overnight road work on the wilson bridge has been wrapped up. they wrapped up the construction in springfield early. right now the capital beltway,

all ramps, appear to be open. 4:52 is your time. many apartments don't have one. >> but now there's a walking closet walk-in closet in outer space. >> and what airlines is talking a megamerger. and the new tiger woods commercial everybody will be talking about. >> tiger, i'm more prone to being inquisitive toñq

tiger, i am more prone to being inquisitive to promote

discussion. i want to find out what your thinking was, i want to find out what your feelings are, and did you learn anything? >> nike's newest tiger woods commercial has everyone talking. that's the voice of earl woods, tiger's late father you heard. nike is one of the few sponsors to stand by tiger woods during his personal troubles. today the talk will be about tiger woods on the golf course. he returns to professional golf this afternoon when he tees off at the masters. >> reporter: as tiger wood prepared for what is likely the most anticipated round of golf in history, came a voice from the past. a recording of his late father has some questions for his son. >> i want to find out what your

thinking was, i want to find out what your feelings are. and did you learn anything? >> reporter: but earl woods wasn't the only voice with words for tiger. from the masters on wednesday, the message was harsh. >> our hee ro did not live up to the expectations of the role model we sought for our children. >> reporter: even after days of practice and that press conference and dozens of autographs that the old told ti would have never have signed, at the start of the most storied tournament stories of tiger's alleged infidelities still cast shadow over his spotlight. >> is he stepping into unknown territory. >> reporter: stepping off the first tee with him is matt kutcher. >> it's exciting. i got a front row seat for a

memorable story in history. it's captivated the world, and it will be nice to get him back in the golf arena. >> reporter: woods now hoping his game leaves him not just champion of the masters, but the master of the comeback. christian dahlgren, nbc news, augusta. a mega airline merger could be in the works. united airlines and usair ways are in talks about combining their operations if that merger occurs, the company would become the second largest airline behind delta which merged with northwest in 2008. the combined company could compete better with delta. merging the unions could present the biggest obstacle according to the union. the international space station has a new walk-in closet. while you were sleeping, the 13-ton cargo carrier from shuttle "discovery" was attached to the space station. in the next few days they will

unload a new bedroom, freezer, supplies and science experiment. the sleeping compartment may be turned into a powder room where residents can take sponge baths. the cargo carrier will be shipped back to earth with trash and old equipment. while her husband's popularity has fallen a bit, michelle obama's approval ratings remain high, now she's sharing how important it is for her to be involved in the d.c. community with news 4's jim vance. >> reporter: it means getting out of the white house and going where the kids are. it's important for me, personally, to be in antacosta and see where kids live but also important to have the kids come here. >> you can watch the first lady talk one-on-one with jim vance tonight at 6:00. stay tuned, the news at 5:00 starts right now.>> we had an e

landing, they finally shut down the engines and said we wouldn't be going to the gate right away. >> reporter: where there's smoke, there's a smoking diplomat. how a bad decision led to a terror scare on a plane out of d.c. plus the rescue resumes. new efforts to get to the miners who remain trapped by that explosion in west virginia. good morning. welcome back to new 4 today. i'm joe krebs. >> i'm eun yang. looking live outside right now. 73 degrees, summer-like weather for the past few days and the pollen go with it, now we're in for much-needed relief. >> that pollen has turned the lincoln memorial green out there. with the heat it's sweating. >> no kidding. a little bead on abe's brow. definitely feeling like summer time, but this is the last of the early summer preview for a while, as temperatures today will once again soar into the mid 80s. i think the number of 90 degree

reports this afternoon will be greatly diminished compared to the last few days. there's your early morning temperatures, 72 in fairfax. 74 in springfield. 72 in manassas. most of the rain showers for now are still way out to the west, but they are making progress into far western parts of west virginia. those showers are coming our way for late this evening. most of the rain drops hold off until 6:00 p.m. or later. if you can't find your umbrella, as young as you're home before 6:00, 7:00 evening, you'll be all right. when the showers and storms get here, we'll have a slight risk for strong to severe thunderstorms. that's an evening threat. 85 today. only 59 for a high tomorrow. doesn't matter, jerry, because the weekend looks great. temperatures mid 60s on saturday. low to mid 70s on sunday. >> good news, chuck.

let's check out the capital beltway topside. left side of your screen the outer loop. so far greenbelt, college park, silver springs, bethesda, to the american legion bridge, both directions incident and delay free. picking up a few folks along the way. certainly nothing to fear at this early hour. one accident to note, joplin road between aden road and johnson road is closed. an accident brought down a power pole, so that stretch of joplin road is blocked off. not effecting 95, though. >> thank. it was terror scare on a flight that departed from reagan international airport, first a passenger smelled smoke and then a passenger says he lit his shoe on fire, but this morning it appears to be a mistake. tracee wilkins has more on this misunderstanding. what happened? good morning. >> reporter: as you can imagine

it was a big misunderstanding a major security scare that followed as well. it appears that passenger was trying to sneak a smoke, but because of all of this, it did cause a major security scare in the air just yesterday. an united airlines flight took off from reagan international airport at 5:15 on its way to denver when a passenger complained about smelling smoke from the bathroom with a passenger inside. when a crew member asked the passenger in the bathroom about the smell, he joked saying i was trying to light my shoe, an assumed reference to the shoe bomber. turns out he was putting out a cigarette on the sole of his shoe. the passenger is identified as mohammed al madadi n hisarly 20s. the qatar embassy says he was flying on international business. air marshals took the man into custody, when he landed he was handed over to officials. passengers say even though all

of this was going on on the plane, it was still a relatively calm process. >> we came in very low, very fast. it appeared we had an expedited landing. we landed on 35 right, and then pulled up in front of the fire rescue station on 35 right, and the pilot shut down the engines and said we wouldn't be going to the gate right away. then they brought out all the fire trucks. we stopped for a while. >> reporter: this was a boeing 757, it had 157 passengers on board and six crew members. again, passengers say it was a calm situation. some didn't realize exactly what was going on. now, a high-ranking official tells the associated press that it appears that the man was not trying to harm anyone, and will face no criminal charges.

tracee wilkins, back to you. >> thank you. qatar's ambassador to the u.s. has released a statement about the air scare it says we respect the necessity of special security precautions involving air travel, but this diplomat was traveling to denver on official embassy business on my instructions. he was was not engaged in threatening activity. the fact also reveal this is a mistake and we urge all concerned parties to avoid reckless judgment and speculation." we have breaking news out of prince george's county. crews are on the scene of a large fire at a townhouse complex. at least 16 adults and two young children have been forced from their homes. this fire began early this morning in the 7800 block of jacobs road. at least three homes were damaged. we have a crew heading to the scene. we'll bring you an update later in a live report. now to west virginia where rescuers are holding out hope that they may still find four missing miners alive. rescue teams entered the upper big branch mine minutes ago,

that's the mine where 25 were killed on monday in a massive explosion. elaine reyes has more now. >> reporter: good morning. the rescue teams were call to the mine last night and everyone, as you said s still holding out hope that the four missing miners made it to the survival chambers. in all, about 32 rescuers will enter the mine. the plan is to look for the possible survivors in two chambers located about five miles from the entrance. if they made it to one of those areas there would be enough oxygen and food to keep 15 miners alive for 96 hours. 31 men were working in the mine owned by the massey energy company during monday's explosion. rescue workers were not able to move in earlier because of unsafe air conditions and the possibility of another explosion. this morning they plan to go into the mine with their own oxygen and other supplies. >> the equipment they would wear

clothes like all of us are wearing, jeans, or a uniform-type outfit with a 30-pound breathing apparatus on their back to carry the oxygen they will need if they have to go into an bad air as well as a face piece and a mouthpiece. >> reporter: in the past few days, exhaust fans have tried to pull out much of that remaining toxic air. last night about 300 people gathered in the streets for a silent march to remember the 25 people who died. eun, back to you. >> thank you. back in our area, a car accident in anne arundel county left two people dead and a third injured this happened on donaldson avenue near walnut grove road. a truck collided with an suv, which then caught on fire. the victims were all pronounced dead at the scene. there's no word on the third victim's condition. police are trying to figure out

what happened. 5:07 is the time. coming up, a warning for people in the district. >> which busy neighborhood has become an easy target for robbers. and we're learning more about what triggered the lockdown at a prestigious d.c. cool. and the possibility of stormy weather. a check of the

good morning. time is coming up on 5:11 on

your thursday morning. good morning, i'm meteorologist chuck bell. it is going to be another mild day today. our 5:00 a.m. temperatures are n now ticking in. low 70s across the area. 71 in prince george's county. 71 in fairfax. 70 in loudoun county, virginia. 68 in montgomery county, maryland a toasty warm day today. showers and thunderstorms are expected but probably not until late this afternoon and more likely in the evening hours. 7:00, 8:00, 9:00, 10:00 this evening, so most of the day will be dry. it will be toasty warm. highs today in the low to mid 80s. a lingering shower on the first part of the day tomorrow. afternoon clearing moves in friday afternoon. breezy and cooler. tomorrow's highs in the 50s. jerry, over to you for a check on the roads. >> quiet morning all in all as we look along 395 at the beginning of the virginia end of the 14th street bridge.

moving along nicely. though the volume is increasing no hang-ups, the outbound 14th street bridge doing fine. the rush hour picking up customers out of frederick along i 270 getting past 118 in german town. all lanes southbound are open. joe, eun, back to you. >> thank you. >> 5:12, 72 degrees. an unsettling spike in crime. robbers committing several crimes in a popular neighborhood and they are getting increasingly violent. and a local utility says customers are in for a decade of rate increases. and the president's important mission to make the world a safer

we are following two big

stories. a smoke break sparked a bomb scare on board a plane. a qatari diplomat lit a cigarette in the bathroom. flight attendants smelled smoke and fighter jets were scrambled. authorities do not think the diplomat will face charges. rescue workers are going back into the west virginia coal mine. an explosion at the mine on monday killed 25 other miners. rescue crews had to ventilate the toxic gases inside the mine before being aloud back inside. we are following breaking news, crews are on the scene of a large fire at a townhouse complex. the fire started in the 7800 block of jacobs road. megan mcgrath has more. >> reporter: good morning. this is a townhouse community. all of the structures involved in the fire are attached. what is being described by witnesses is a situation that it appears the fire started on the outside on a lower level, and

that the flames traveled up one townhouse and began to skip from house to house. having walked down there, you can see that there is extensive damage to two of the town homes there. it looks like they have been completely gutted. much of the damage kind of in the rear of the structure. then we have a number of other town homes to the right of that initial town home, that also appear to have extensive smoke and water damage. there's dwret anothyet another s a grassy area that had damage from the heat. an intense fire. witnesses say the heat was incredible. folks standing across the street said they were really uncomfortable because of the intensity because of that heat. of course, a lot of damage was done here. no word on exactly what the cause is. folks who were in the area while it was really roaring, they say it appeared to start in the

patio area behind the end unit on this row, and it began to skip from there, traveling along the backside of this row of town houses. the flames are out at this point. we have investigators here on the scene. they seem to be concentrating efforts on the rear of that first town home. the one on the end. they have shovels and are digging around the corner of that particular town home. so, obviously they're trying to figure out what caused this fire, and whether it was accidental or intentional, none of that is known. very early here. we'll have an update coming up. >> was anyone hurt? okay, megan mcgrath, thank you. today president obama is in prague signing a new arms reduction treaty. this is the first step of the president's goal of riding the world of nuclear weapons. brooke hea hart is following th

trip. >> reporter: president obama and russian president democrat meaty medvedev are conducting private talks now. today's agreement only effects these two countries, but both leaders do hope that it effects iran's nuclear plans as well. >> reporter: president obama arrived in prague and headed to the medieval prague castle, first a high level greeting and then on to the point of his trip with president medvedev, the so-called new start treaty shrinks both arsenals by about one-third and the role of remaining warheads in u.s. strategy. >> the president will say, look, we need nuclear weapons just to deter a nuclear attack on the united states, not for a whole range of other threats. >> reporter: the treaty does meet senate approval.

some republicans say it sends the wrong message that the u.s. is backing off a key tool in its dispense. >> they want more money for nuclear weapons modernization, a big issue senator kyle has pledged, they would like a pledge not to put restrictions on future missile defense deployment. >> reporter: that message about iran will carry over to next week. the president will be hosting 46 nations including russia and china, aimed at finding agreement on how to stop nuclear weapons from getting into the wrong hands. live on capitol hill, broo brooke hart back to you. police are investigating a number of robberies in the u street area in the last week. the most disturbing happened tuesday night in the 1400 block of q street. ten other robberies have been reported since march 29th. most were in the 17th street and

14th street corridors and on massachusetts and connecticut avenues. police believe one of the suspects may be the same in several of those robberies. a warning also if you live in montgomery or prince george's counties. you could be in for sticker shock soon when you get your water bill in the mail. rates are being raised significantly next year and those increases are likely to continue for some time. elaine reyes has more. not good news. >> reporter: no, but if you remember prince george's and montgomery counties have seen several huge water main breaks in the last few years. the rate hikes would pay for the cost of repairing and replacing the water and sewer lines there. wsc says rate increases are likely for the next ten years. they say they are still trying to catch up on a maintenance backlog, and it's looking for ways to pay for a better reconstruction program. rates have actually not changed in the past six years. it's just hard to say how much each resident's water and sewer bill would increase.

proposed rates would change each year starting at around 13%, then steady decreasing to just under 6%. the council's of prince george's and montgomery counties are scheduled to meet next month they will vote on an immediate increase and if they determine it's needed, the first rate hikes could be seen july 1st. a word of warning for your water and sewer bills. eun? >> thanks. 5:21 is our time. time again for traffic and weather on the ones. >> yes. we had summer-like weather throughout the nation's capital. we are not complaining about the heat, but what about the pollen. >> man, you know, i drive a white car, when you can see the layer of green on a white car, that's getting serious. pollen count jumped from 400 two days ago to over 4,000 yesterday. yeah, it's a -- that's got to be some kind of record, no? >> what's that? >> that's got to be some kind of

record. >> that's not a record, but it does not make a difference, there's only so much you can breathe in and breathe out. temperatures on your thursday morning, upper 60s and low 70s out there. dew points in the mid to high 50s. any time the dew point gets close to 60, you start feeling the humidity. today will be the last of the toasty warm days. the showers and thundershowers arriving late today, probably not until after 8:00 this evening. temperatures in the mid 80s. tomorrow, jerry, highs only in the 50s. that's okay because the weekend is looking good. >> chuck, sounds like a good forecast to us. let's head over and see how we're doing on the capital beltway, checking things out on the beltway and gw parkway. so far both are fine. all the overnight road work around route 7 and 66 on the beltway has been picked up. no worries here. one more stop, heading over on 270, making the drive out of german town. lanes open up down to the split. you may need to slow down a bit

if you're headed southbound because of the northbound work zone, some bright lights in your eyes around gaithersburg. other than that, doing fine. back to you. >> those bright lights are tough. they are. i had to put my sunglasses on. >> thank you. >> 5:23 is your time. two students in serious trouble. >> what we have learned about the scare that triggered a lockdown at a prestigious d.c. area school.

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tiger, i am more prone to being inquisitive to promote discussion. i want to find out what your thinking was, i want to find out what your feelings are, and did you learn anything? >> nike's newest tiger woods commercial has everyone talking. that's the voice of earl woods, tiger's late father you heard. nike is one of the few sponsors to stand by tiger woods during his personal troubles. a bb gun led to a scare at a prestigious school in the district and now two students are facing serious charges. police got a 911 call yesterday morning alerting them to someone holding a gun in a car near st. albans school. the school was locked down as the grounds were searched of the national cathedral where the school is located. the weapon turned out to be a bb

gun. an 18-year-old student and another student were arrested. they're facing charges of illegal possession and illegal transportation of a bb gun. 5:27 is your time. 73 degrees. an american soldier being held hostage. ahead at 5:30, new video just released. what message he is sending home. and much more about the air scare on board a flight out of d.c. how a foreign diplomat caused tense moments. next, an update on the new rescue efforts to get to four

mile high high jinks. we're learning more about the incident that caused a scare on a plane from d.c. to denver. >> and rescuers finally get into the west virginia mine where an explosion took place. good morning, i'm eun yang. >> good morning, i'm joe krebs. looking live outside now. 73 degrees at 5:30 in the morning. their about that for a moment. that's warm. let's go to chuck bell in storm center4 looking at our forecast. >> that's right. we had back-to-back 90 degree days in april for the first time since 2002. when it happened then it was much later down into the month. the 16th and 17th. very unusual to have back-to-back 90 degree days in

apr april. outside on your thursday morning, temperatures are now on the mild side. 73 in springfield, virginia. manassas reporting 72. bran brandywine, maryland, 71. rockville, maryland, also at 71. fairfax, virginia. 70 degrees. here's a check of radar. showers with embedded thunderstorms rolling into western parts of ohio and eastern kentucky. those shower have eyes on us. it won't get here until after 6:00 this evening. most of the day will be dry. as the kids out to the bus stop, upper 60s to near 70. it will be a very warm day today. sunshine around this morning, clouds increasing as we go through this afternoon. high temperatures again in the mid 80s. outdoor recess weather for sure. rain chances don't start to move into the area until after 5:00, 6:00, 7:00 this evening. we have a slight risk for strong

to severe thunderstorms. jerry? >> we will look live along interstate 66 to the roosevelt bridge. everything quiet no early hangups. route 50, gw parkway seem to be doing all right. let's update you through town headed in on east capitol street over to benning road, the whitney young bridge looking good. also kenilworth avenue looking nice. out on the rails, everything is lovely with no early issues. trains leaving on time so far. >> thank you very much. a big scare in the sky. fighter jets scrambled and all because a diplomat was illegally trying to sneak a cigarette in an airplane's restroom this happened on board a united airlines flight bound for denver from washington. it's what he allegedly said after being confronted by the smoking that led some to believe he might have been trying to blow up the plane but this morning it appears that is not the case.

tracee wilkins is live with more. >> reporter: it appears he was making a joke, but this is not a joking kind of situation, with what we've had happen in the air and at airports, a few months ago a terrorist scare. of course everyone flew into action. but it does appear what this man was trying to do was sneak a smoke, but it caused a major security scare in the air yesterday. a united airlines fight took off from reagan national airport after 5:00 p.m. on its way to denver when a passenger complained about smelling smoke from a bathroom while a passenger was inside. when a crew member asked about the smell, the man joked saying i was trying to light a shoe, an assumed reference to the so-called shoe bomber. turns out he was putting out a cigarette on the sole of his shoe. the passenger is identified as mohammed al madadi, in his early 20s. the qatar embassy says he was flying on official business, but

when this all happened fighter jets threw beside the plane, air marshals sat with the man and he was taken into custody when on the ground, but passengers say it was still a calm process. >> we came in very low, very fast. it appeared we had an expedited landing. we landed on 35 right, and then pulled up in front of the fire rescue station off 35 right, and the pilot shut down the engines and said we wouldn't be going to the gate right away. then they brought out all the fire trucks. we stopped for a while. >> reporter: there were 157 passengers on that plane. as he said, they did sit on the runway for about an hour before they were allowed to leave. they also were questioned about what happened on the plane. some passengers upset about that, most saying they didn't know exactly what was going on until they were informed. they were told there was a

situation on the plane, but some folks didn't foe what that situation. we're hearing from high-ranking officials that it doesn't appear the man will face charges. tracee wilkins, back to you. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. the search for four miners resumes inside a coal mine in west virginia. last night a vigil was held for those men and the 25 others who lost their lives. mourners gathered at a church, lit candles and marched through the center of town. >> it's been two and a half days since the explosion and now rescue crews can go back inside. first they had to drill holes to let out the deadly levels of toxic gas. as of 4:30 this morning, the mine was deemed safe enough for rescue workers to go back inside. jay gray has more. >> reporter: busy overnight here. they have continued to push that methane and carbon dioxide out of the mine. as you talked about, deem the

air safe enough for crews to go back in and get to work. day three of the rescue effort began with word crews would move back into the mine. >> we are focused. it is what it is this is what we're dealing with right now. it's nothing compared to what the families are going through. >> reporter: as the frantic rescue effort continues in the mountains of west virginia. >> it's scary. very scary. >> reporter: we are learning more now about what happened inside the upper big branch mine at the time of the blast. >> it became very severe wind. dust, dirt, debris blowing. >> reporter: stanley stewart just started his shift. as he made his way back out, it appeared his friends did not. >> those guys are still in there, and a lot of my good

buddies. people don't underthe camaraderie between coal miners. >> reporter: a bond that pulled close to 300 into the streets late yesterday. their silent march in memory of those lost and the four still missing. >> it's really powerful. nobody understands coming from a coal town what it's like. for everybody to know how close knit our community is, it's amazing. >> reporter: a strength they have come to rely on as so many here struggle through this tragedy. now with the news that rescue teams are moving back into the mine, the waiting and wondering for this community could be over today. live in west virginia, i'm jay gray, back to you. >> jay, thank you. two people are dead and a third injured after an suv collided with a truck in anne arundel county. the suv caught fire after the crash on donaldson avenue and

walnut grove road. the victims were pronounced dead at the scene. there's no word on the third victim's condition. police are trying to figure out what happened. we are seeing new images of a u.s. soldier captured in afghanistan. video was released of the idaho solder who was captured last june. in the video, he says he wants to return to his family and the war in afghanistan is not worth the number of lives that have been lost. he also does push-ups to prove he's in good condition but there's no way to verify when the video was made. the taliban last released a video of him on christmas. 73 degrees. following breaking news out of prince george's county. >> a townhouse is on fire. a live report at 5:45. and a megamerger discussed in the airline industry. and when hot and cold clash, you get storms. that's what's going to h

good morning. it is 5:41 on your thursday. i'm meteorologist chuck bell. another mild one outside as you get ready to go out for the morning walk or jog or bike ride. temperatures in the low 70s all across the metro area. 60s up in the north and west of town. forecast today, increasing clouds, showers and thunderstorms by this evening. the heaviest of which will be here 8:00, 9:00. >> chuck, get the dog out and

get him back in before it rains. let's travel along 16th street down to walter reed a little fender bender in silver spring below the traffic circle. shouldn't cost you much time. dw parkway, wrapping up an early accident. >> our time is 5:42. 73 degrees. the eyes of the world will be on augusta, georgia later on today. >> at 5:55, a report on tiger woods and the commercial everybody will be talking about. >> and a twist to the confederacy controversy in virginia. and an old e-mail that could cause a new problem for toyota. several families in greenbelt have been forced from their homes following a fire in a row of

breaking nows now from prince george's county. crews remain on the scene of a townhouse complex. more than a dozen people have been forced out of their homes in the 7800 block of jacobs road. megan mcgrath joins us with the latest. >> reporter: this fire broke out in a row of town homes here. it appears the fire started at one end of that row and fanned by the winds we're seeing t jumped from rowhouse to rowhouse, townhouse to townhouse. according to witnesses it happened rather quickly. it was concentrated initially in the rear of the end unit of that row, and then it just went from there. we have several families who have been forced out of their homes. it appears, looking at the damage, that two of the town homes are a complete loss. the others down further along the lines have more like smoke and water damage. certainly damage as well.

the heat was so intense, there's a townhouse across the grassy area that was damaged from that heat, the siding melted on that side of that town home. we talked to a witness this morning and he said it all happened quickly. >> clearly started at the corner back here. when i first got woken up that was the only thing on fire. it appeared to be the outside of the house, went up the back corner, but these first two houses are completely destroyed. somebody said they were about to collapse in the back. >> reporter: it skipped from house to house? >> yeah. we thought it was skipping on the roof, apparently it was also skipping from patio to patio in the back. >> reporter: there is extensive damage to two of the town homes, then there's also severe damage to two other town homes. as you get closer to the end of the line, it's more smoke damage, water damage. we have several families who

have been displaced at this point. the red cross is on the scene. no word from the fire department about what caused this fire. fortunately everybody was able to get out. the neighbors were shouting to one another, knocking on doors, made sure everybody got out. so there are no injuries. joe, back to you. >> the fact it appears to have started outside, could be suspicious or it might lead you to believe that it might be like a barbecue pit or something. >> it's too early to tell. they are focusing on the rear corner of the end unit. who's to say whether that was outside or something inside at that corner. it's hard to say. the damage is so extensive there's not much of a wall left. they are definitely focusing efforts there. they have shovels and are digging around. >> thank you very much, megan. there are more ambulances on the streets of d.c. this morning after an unexpected shortage. on tuesday between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., d.c. fire and ems

received over 300 calls for service. typically in a 24-hour period we'll handle about 425, maybe 450 calls on a busy day. >> a decision was made to transport him on a fire engine, though that's not extraordinary t is unusual. >> are typically more than three dozen ambulances on duty in the district at any given time. the unexpected record heat, the large crowds of the cherry blossom festival drove that call volume above its normal level. police are trying to determine why a young couple was shot while watching a sunset. a 57-year-old is accused of

shooting a man and a woman at rock point overlook. the man was critically injured, the 18-year-old woman is in fair condition. there's no indication that jackson knew either victim. virginia governor bob mcdonell is apologizing that he did not mention slavery. he amended his proclamation to say slavery was evil and inhumane. if you put the spotlight on the confederacy, put the spotlight in the right way, those soldiers that represented a rebellion of the government of the united states of america. >> mcdonnell added a a passage

saying it is important for all virgins to understand the institution of slavery led to this war and was an evil and inhumane practice. today a man is due in court accused of threatening house speaker nancy pelosi over health care reform. the man made dozens of calls to pelosi's home. in one case the caller recited pelosi's address, and said if she wanted to see that home again, she would not support the bill. the man was arrested at his home in california yesterday. two other men are also accused of threatening lawmalawmakers. and now to toyota's latest troubles. some newly released e-mails between executives at toyota reveal serious concerns about how that company was dealing with safety problems. an internal e-mail from a toyota pr executive urges colleagues to, in his words, come clean. about accelerator problems in the vehicles. he did so five days before the company announced a massive recall back in january. that e-mail was obtained by the associated press. irv miller is the executive who sent it and he since retired. in the note miller said he hoped

toyota would not be put out of business while finding a solution to the accelerator problems. a megger airline merger could be in the works. the associated press is reporting that united airlines and us airways are in talks about combining their operations. if that merger happens, the company would become the second biggest airline behind delta which merged with northwest back in 2008. the a.p. reports the combined company could cut its costs and compete better with delta. new this morning, the international space station has a new walk-in closet. while you were sleeping, astronauts lifted the 13-ton cargo carrier from "discovery" and attached it to the space station. in the next few days they will unload a new bedroom, freezer, supplies and science experiment. the sleeping compartment may be turned into a powder room where residents can take sponge baths. the cargo carrier will be shipped back to earth with trash and old equipment.

then it will become the permanent storage unit in space. no word on where they will put the hot tub. >> i want to make sure there's enough room for shoes. >> never can have too many shoes in outer space. perhaps you can. let's go to chuck bell now. >> eun had the grades to make it into the nasa program, but if i can't bring my shoes with me, i'm not going into space. >> it ain't happening. >> those jimmy chu's. >> and there's four women in space now, the most women at any time. well-timed for them. outside this morning, a mild start. temperatures are in the upper 60s and low 70s area-wide. 71 at national airport with a light southwest wind at 7 miles per hour. the warmest first week of april on record. the warmest april was 1981. the first week of april in 1981

was 11 degrees warmer than average this one here, 15 degrees warmer than normal. 71 in fairfax county. there are some 60s on the map in higher terrains. here is a check of radar. rain showers about ready to get into the far western tip of the great state of west virginia. those showers will be here but not until late this afternoon for you folks out west of the blue ridge and not until after the sun goes down in the washington area. temperatures are way cooler behind that front. temperatures in iowa and greater chicago are in the 30s as we are getting up on a thursday morning. there's the weather front, it promises to bring cool changes our way. again, most of the rain not arrives until after 6:00, 7:00, 8:00 this evening. a round of showers, some strong to severe thunderstorms will be possible this evening. we'll keep you posted on that. rain fall amounts, half an inch

to an inch on average. warm today, jerry, highs in the 80s. cool tomorrow, with highs in the 50s. the weekend is looking okay. >> chuck. let's see if the commute is looking okay. for the most part it is pennsylvania avenue up across the bridge no worries, south capital bridge fine. 11th street bridge, traffic is light. joplin road is blocked off because of power lines down the roadway from an earlier accident. not effecting the commute on 95. those lanes remain open and available. out on the rails, one delay, 870 is seven minutes behind schedule. other than that we're looking. the federal government is stepping up efforts to stop drivers from texting and using cell phones. the "wall street journal" reports uncle sam is funding a pilot program in syracuse, new york and hartford, connecticut

that would ticket distracted drivers. the year-long enforcement begins today it is modeled after the click it or tick it program. >> tiger woods has been in a number of commercials, but few have created the buzz like this latest nike ad has. >> tiger, i am more prone to being inquisitive to promote discussion. i want to find out what your thinking was, i want to find out what your feelings are, and did you learn anything? >> that's the voice of earl woods, tiger's late father who you heard in that ad. nike is one of the few sponsors to stand by tiger woods during his personal troubles. tiger's next appearance will be on the golf course. >> he tees off this afternoon in the first round of the masters. christian dahlgren has more.

>> reporter: as tiger woods prepares for what is likely the most anticipated round of golf in history, came a voice from the past. >> tiger. >> reporter: a recording of his late father who has some questions for his son. >> i want to find out what your thinking was, i want to find out what your feelings are. and did you learn anything? >> reporter: but earl woods wasn't the only voice with words for tiger. from the chairman of the masters on wednesday, the message was harsh. >> our hero did not live up to the expectations of the role model we sought for our children. >> reporter: so, even after days of practice, and that press conference and dozens of autographs that the old tiger would have never signed -- >> it was really shocking i got the autograph twice. >> reporter: at the start of golf's most storied tournament stories of tiger's

alleged infidelities still cast shadow over his return to the spotlight. >> he is stepping into unknown territory. >> reporter: stepping off the first tee with him is matt kutcher. >> it's exciting. i got a front row seat for a memorable time in history. you know, the tiger woods story is fascinating. it's captivated the world, and it will be nice to get him back in the golf arena. >> reporter: woods now hoping his game leaves him not just champion of the masters, but the master of the comeback. christian dahlgren, nbc news, augusta. >> tiger will tee off at 1:42 this afternoon. no, his wife elin will not be at the masters. >> a lot of people will be interested in how he plays. 5:57 is your time. the major rate hike many of you will see. find out what bill is about to go through the roof for many years to come. and next at 6:00 a.m., the rescue mission to find four

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air scare. a diplomat on a flight from d.c. to denver causes a bomb scare. this morning we know what ignited it all. they're going, and it's now safe enough for rescue crews to enter a coal mine in hopes of finding four workers trapped since monday. we are live in west virginia with more on the mission ahead. good morning. thanks for joining us for news 4 today. i'm eun yang. >> and i'm joe krebs, on this thursday, 8th day of april, 2010. beautiful sky out there this morning in the dawn areas of this thursday morning. 71 degrees. a beautiful sunrise because of the clouds. >> temperatures dropped a couple of degrees, we want to know if

this is a trend. >> it is a trend. last day of the toasty warm preview of summer will be today. the cooler weather of april returns tomorrow, between now and then, april showers coming our way. outside on your thursday morning, good morning to all out there in the news 4 nation. 71 downtown, mild over in annapolis where the current temperature is 74. cooler in west virginia. martinsburg, also 69, up in the panhandle of west virginia. it will be a mild day today, but we will have showers and thunderstorms coming in by late this evening this will be our last blast of summery weather. no rain in the immediate future. i think our rain chances don't ramp up in the d.c. metro area until after 6:00 p.m. most of our day will be warm and dry. >> checking out the commute, south of town getting busy over

the wilson bridge between oxon hill and alexandria all lanes, both directions should be open for you. trip in on 95, we may have an issue in the hov lanes, that just popped up headed through the interchange, that's northbound hov lanes, we'll get on that and keep you updated and get right back at you. joplin road remains closed between 95 and aden road. an accident, power pole down, that entire stretch of joplin road closed. prince william police tell us it could be closed for a while. 95 traffic is not effected. those lanes remain open. >> it was a terror scare that turned out to be a different problem. the smell of smoke on board an airplane, a passenger who also is a diplomat said he lit his shoe on fire. it happened on board a united airlines fight bound for denver but not everything was as it

seemed. tray is tracee wilkins joins us live with more. what happened? >> reporter: when they say no smoking on a plane, they mean it. then if you're going to try do it, it's best not to joke around with crew members about it, it appears that's what this passenger did yesterday. it caused a major security scare in the air last night. a united airlines flight took off from reagan national airport to denver, when a passenger complained about smelling smoke from the bathroom with a passenger inside. when a crew member asked the passenger in the bathroom about the smell, he joked saying i was trying to light my shoe, an assumed reference to the shoe bomber. turns out he was putting out a cigarette on the sole of his shoe. the passenger is identified as mohammed al madadi, a qatari diplomat, living in washington.

he is in his early 20s. the qatar embassy says he was flying on international business. air marshals took the man into custody, when he landed he was handed over to officials. passengers say even though all of this going on, it was still a calm process. >> we came in very low, very fast. it appeared we had an expedited landing. we landed on 35 right, and then pulled up in front of the fire rescue station on 35 right, and the pilot shut down the engines and said we wouldn't be going to the gate right away. then they brought out all the fire trucks. we stopped for a while. >> reporter: a calm process but a long process. there were 157 passengers on that plane. once they had the opportunity to deplane, they then were questioned by officials about what happened on board the plane earlier. we are told, again, by a national -- or national officials are telling the associated press, high-ranking officials that this man will not

likely face charges. tracee wilkins, back to you. >> thank you. qatar's ambassador to the u.s. has released a statement about the air scare. it says, we respect the necessity of special security precautions involving air travel, but this diplomat was traveling to denver on official embassy business on my instructions. he was certainly not engaged in threatening activity. the facts will reveal that this was a mistake and we urge all concerned parties to avoid reckless judgment and speculation." two people are dead and a third is fighting for his or her live after an suv crashed into a truck in anne arundel county. this happened on donaldson avenue near walnut grove road. a truck collided with an suv, which then caught on fire. the victims were all pronounced dead at the scene. police are trying to figure out what happened. right now, president obama is in prague. he is there to sign a new nuclear arms treaty.

he is there to sign a new arms reduction treaty. this is the first step of the president's goal of riding the world of nuclear weapons. backers say it shrinks the role of remaining u.s. warheads. rescue operations at a west virginia coal mine are back on. four men are still missing deep under ground at the big branch mine in raleigh county. 25 other miners were killed at an explosion at that mine on monday it has taken more than two days to ventilate the mine until gas levels dropped enough so that officials could go back inside. jay gray joins us with the latest. >> reporter: very busy last night as the fans pulled the methane and carbon dioxide out. those rescue teams now able to get back to work. >> reporter: day three of the rescue effort began with word

crews would move back into the mine. >> we're focused. i mean, this is just what -- it is what it is. this is what we're dealing with right now. it's nothing compared to what the families are going through. >> reporter: as the frantic rescue effort continues in the mountains of west virginia. >> it's scary. very scary. >> reporter: we're learning more about what happened inside the upper big branch mine at the time of the blast. >> it became very severe winds. dust, dirt, debris blowing. >> reporter: stanley stewart just started his shift. as he pa made his way back to safety, it became clear dozens of his friends did not. >> those guys are still in there, and a lot of my good buddies. people don't understand the camaraderie between coal miners.

>> reporter: a bond that pulled close to 300 into the streets late yesterday. their silent march in memory of those lost and the four still missing. >> it's really powerful. nobody understands coming from a coal town what it's like. for everybody to know how close knit our community is, it's amazing. >> reporter: a strength they have come to rely on as so many here continue to struggle through this tragedy. now with the news that rescue teams are moving back into the mine today, the waiting and wondering for this community could be over by the end of this day. live in west virginia, i'm jay gray, back to you. >> jay, thank you. 6:08 is your time. coming up, the apology from virginia governor bob mcdonell. what he is calling a major omission. rate hikes of 10% to 13% what many of you will be paying a lot more for.

and a change in the fore

good morning. it is now 6:11. another day feeling more like summer than spring around the area. temperatures in the upper 60s in most of the western suburbs. 68 in fairfax county.

68 in manassas. 70 degrees downtown. our forecast for today, increasing clouds, but another mild one for sure. highs today near 85 degrees. highs tomorrow will be staying in the upper 50s. most of the rain should be out of here by morning rush hour tomorrow morning. jerry? >> good thing i did not put away my muck boots, sounds like i'll need them tomorrow. traffic between georgetown and rosalyn looking good. let's head over to the american legion bridge, picking up a lot of volume, right side the outer loop, left side the inner loop. metrorail fine, that one delay on mark rail, brunswick 782, six minutes behind schedule. 6:12 is your time now. the gun scare that put a d.c. school on lockdown. and the rate hike that many of you will see.

and we're live on breaking news in prince george's county. a large fire

our time right now, 6:14. checking the top stories, rescue

workers are preparing to go back into that west virginia coal mine where four men remain missing. an explosion at the mine on monday killed 25 other miners. rescue crews had to first ventilate the toxic gases inside the mine before being allowed to go back inside. >> at any moment, president obama will sign a new arms reduction treaty with russia. this is a live picture in prague where we are waiting for the president and russian president dmitry medvedev. the treaty does meet senate approval. a qatari diplomat is not expected to face charges after sparking a bomb scare on a flight from d.c. he apparently l a cigarette in the restroom last night. the flight attendants smelled smoke and fighter jets were scrambled as he joked about lighting his shoe on fire. in prince george's county, crews are on the scene of a large fire at a town home

complex in the 7800 block of jacobs road. megan mcgrath joins us with the latest. >> we have 19 adults two children, infants who have been displaced by the fire. it happened early this morning in a row of town homes here on jacobs drive. look at this live picture. you can see the extent of the damage here. primarily to the rear of these town homes. it apparently started at the unit on the very end, at the corner of one of the units. they believe it started outside, then traveled up the backside of that townhouse, spread up to the roof, and then shot across to other town homes in the row by going across the roof. we have windy conditions, and neighbors say that seems to have helped the flames spread. we have a situation where the entire row here is impacted to a greater or lesser extent. the three on the end have sustained a tremendous amount of damage. they appear to have been gutted.

the folks there lost pretty much everything in their homes. the other two units, they have smoke and water damage. the ones on the end have minor damage, you know, smoke, a bit of water, that sort of thing. we have 19 adults two infants who have been displaced. here's how the witnesses describe it. >> my backyard is so dry, so our neighbor, the whole side of the house is on fire, all in flames. very big. like daytime. >> since it was two doors down, we thought we would be okay but the fire spread quickly. went back inside and got everybody out. >> everybody was able to get out. neighbors actually assisted each oefrmt everybody was shouting fire, fire, get out. everyone got out. no indication if there's anything suspicious about this.

no cause yet, but it appears this was an accidental fire. >> was anyone hurt? >> nobody was hurt. it appears it started outside, so we don't know if it was a barbecue or smoking. not considered to be suspicious. everyone is okay. >> okay. megan mcgrath, thank you. >> a bb gun led to a scare at a prestigious scare in the district and now two students are facing charges. police got a 911 call yesterday morning alerting them to someone holding a gun in a car near st. albans school. the school was locked down as the grounds were searched of the national cathedral where the school is located. the gun turned out to be a bb gun. an 18-year-old student and another student were arrested. they're facing charges of illegal possession and illegal transportation of a bb gun. virginia governor bob mcdonell made changes to his proclamation that made april fon read rat history in the commonwealth. mcdonell said he was sorry for not mentioning slavery in the

problem la makes. the naacp is furious with the govern governor. mcdonell added a passage to the proclamation yesterday that reads in part that it is important for all virgins to understand the institution of slavery led to this war and was an evil and inhumane practice. >> prince george's has seen several water breaks if the last few years, and the hate hikes would help pay for the cost of repairing and replacing water and sewer lines there. officials say the increases are likely over the next ten years. they say they're still trying to

catch up on a maintenance backlog on its aging infrastructure. it is hard to say how much each resident's water and sewer bill would increase. proposed rates will change each year starting at around 13% and steadily decreasing to just under 6%. the utility company says the rate hikes are in line with the national trend and will also help pay for legal and regulatory requirements. for a period of six years, recently, wssc did not raise rates. >> weren't we already paying enough? shouldn't that have been taken care of a long time ago? or does this mean because they didn't take care of it then, now we have to pay for that expense? >> day in and day out our water comes out of the tap and we use it, it goes down the toilet. by in large it happens every day. people take that for granted. it's hard for them to realize that it doesn't happen

automatically. it is something we work hard to do, but it doesn't come free either. >> the councils of prince george's and montgomery counties are scheduled to meet next month and vote on the increase. if they agree, customers could see a bigger water bill starting july 1st. joe? >> all right. thanks. >> tonight on new 4 at 6:00, a one-on-one with first lady michelle obama. she talks about her favorite parts of living in the district, her favorite places to visit and why it's so important to touch the lives of legal children. >> it means getting out of the white house and going where the kids are. it's important for me personally to be see kids where they live but also important to have those kids come here. >> you can watch the first lady talk one-on-one with jim vance tonight on new 4 at 6:00. really interesting interview. >> looking forward to it very much so 6:21 is the time. let's check our weather forecast

now. here is chuck bell in for tom kierein. >> good morning, everybody. it will be another toasty, warm day today. temperatures up to the mid 80s once again. here is a check of the radar. the earliest showers just getting ready to move into far western parts of west virginia. we have many, many dry hours to come. most of our thursday will be a dry one. rain chances don't ramp up until 5:00, 6:00 this evening. you about the stobs this morning, no umbrellas needed. it will become an increasingly cloudy day today. showers, maybe a strong to severe thunderstorm this even g evening. heaviest rain after 8:00 tonight. jerry, over to you. we are loading up from last time we spoke. slowing down in several stretches of 270 from i-700 through hyattstown, german town, however all lanes open down to the split. may find some road work going on northbound side, but not much to worry about at all. we'll check out i-95 northbound.

the hov lanes were unusually slow, now the regular lanes are jammed up, there's something going on, we're on top of it and we'll get back to you. >> the damaging internal e-mail from a top executive at toyota what it said about the automaker's safety problem. and look at this, open warfare in the middle of a street of a key u.s. ally. and the desperate plea from a u.s. soldier captured in afghanistan. >> let me go. get me to come home.

u.s. war efforts in afghanistan could be hampered by unrest in kyrgyzstan. the government's headquarters have been seized. the u.s. has a military base there that serves as a supply center in the fight against the taliban. the military halted flights in and out of the base yesterday. it's not clear when the flights will resume. as for the violence there, at least 68 people were killed yesterday, 400 others were hurt. the country's president has fled to a southern city. the opposition is demanding that he resign. >> the taliban has released a in video of a u.s. soldier captured last year in afghanistan. the video shows army private bo bergdal. in the video he says he wants to return to his family and that

the war is not worth the lives that have been lost. there's no way to verify when the video was made. he was captured last june and the taliban last released a video of him on christmas. >> 6:27 is the time. tiger woods has a new commercial out. we'll show you the eye-catching ad. >> crews in west virginia begin searching for four miners in west virginia. the challenges rescue workers face. and what a diplomat did on a

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smoke alarm. a diplomat causes a bomb scare on a flight from d.c. to denver, how this illegal act and a joke created a huge misunderstanding. welcome back. i'm joe krebs.

>> i'm eun yang. we are looking outside on this april 8, 2010. 71 degrees. still nice and mild, but we could get changes in the weather. >> let's go to chuck bell in storm center4 for tom kierein this morning. hello. >> hello. good morning, everyone, for your thursday, expect the last of our little early summer preview to be today. the temperatures are in the upper 60s to near 70 degrees. another mild start. the forecast for today, most of the day will be dry. rain chances don't move into the area until after 5:00, 6:00 in the evening. make that plan accordingly. there is also a slight risk for strong to severe thunderstorms as the front comes through. the best risk for showers and thunderstorms arrives after 8:00 this evening. much cooler weather returns for tomorrow. it will finally feel like april. >> chuck, let's see how the commute is going. those folks off for spring break are headed back to work. we are jammed up.

couldn't find anything in the roadway. a lot of volume out of dale city. the lanes appear to be open right now. let's see what we're doing elsewhere, top side of the beltway, typical story. no accidents. out on the rails earlier delays have cleared. good news there. metrorail and vre doing just fine. >> fighter jets scrambled in the skies because of a diplomat who tried to sneak a cigarette into an airplane's restroom. it happened on board a united airlines flight bound for denver last night. tracee wilkins has more on what appears to be a big misunderstanding. good morning. >> reporter: when they say no smoking on planes, they mean it it's a safety concern. when you joke about it after the fact, it makes what could be a smaller deal a much bigger deal. it's already a federal

violation. when this young man did what he did yesterday t caused a major security scare. a united airlines flight took off from reagan national airport after 5:00 p.m. on its way to denver. a passenger complained about smelling smoke from a bathroom while a passenger was inside. when a crew member asked about the smell, the man joked saying i was trying to light my shoe. he was contained on the plane before the plane landed, passengers say with all of this going on, it was still a relatively calm situation. >> we came in very low, very fast. it appeared we had an expedited landing. we landed on 35 right, and then pulled up in front of the fire rescue station off 35 right, and the pilot shut down the engines and said we wouldn't be going to

the gate right away. then they brought out all the fire trucks. we stopped for a while. >> reporter: mohammed al madadi is the diplomat. he most likely won't be facing criminal charges. tracee wilkins, back to you in the studio. >> thank you. >> let's go live now to prague where president obama is getting ready to sign a new nuclear treaty with mitry medvedev, the of russia is there as well. any moment we expect the signing to take place. you can see the two heads of state there. it looks like they're at podiums. they're at the presidential palace which is inside the prague castle. >> this is the first step towards the president's goal of riding the world of nuclear weapons, the so-called new start

treaty shrinks both country's arsenals by one-third. the treaty does need senate approval. some republicans have said it sends the wrong message that the u.s. is backing off in its defense, but the white house says it hopes to unify the nations in preventing iran from building its own nuclear arsenal. >> iran and other countries as well from building their own -- their own nuclear arsenals and helps to reduce nuclear weapons around the world. >> again, this signing is about to happen. president obama on the left, and russian president dmitry medvedev on the right-hand side. we will try to bring you that live when that happens. >> right now, we will go to joe manchin in west virginia, talking about the attempt to get rescue workers inside that mine where there was an explosion earlier this week. >> the bottom line of safety has

been the order, if you will it's been what has been the driving force, not to put the rescue workers in any type of danger. it's not inherent with the rescue operation. we want to make sure they had the safest conditions. we feel the conditions we have now are the best. >> the president is on the left, you are seeing him at this moment signing that treaty. and russian president dmitry medvedev has signed at least one copy and he will sign the other copy as well. on the right, joe manchin. >> getting an update on the situation in west virginia as the search continues for four missing miners. let's listen in. >> can they move over this? can they do this and that? we know they've been here before. we know we can get back to them. we know we have three in this area unaccounted for. we have one along the long wall. we know we can get here. we're not sure if we can get back in here.

they will move as rapidly as they possibly can. if something happens before the two-hour intervals of our updates for you all, we'll come back. we'll go to the families first as we have been going, and then come right to you and let you know where we are. that gives you a full update of what we've done, at 4:55 they went in. they have advanced in a little over an hour to -- >> governor joe manchin explaining 5 minutes before 5:00, the rescue operations resumed. they were able to get into the mines once again after drilling holes yesterday to release the toxic gas to make it safe enough for rescue crews to get back in there. >> he just explained they know where three of the men were, and they will try to get back into that area, but they're not sure they can get back into that area. and the fourth person seems to be in a more accessible area. they will try to get there today.

>> let's go back now live to prague where president obama and russian president democrat meaty medvedev have just signed the nuclear arms res duduction trean prague. >> this is the presidential palace in the castle in prague. once again, they just signed this nuclear arms reduction treaty that promises a reduction of the nuclear arms arsenals by about a third. >> there's the handshake, the applause after the signing. and we'll bring you more on both of these important stories throughout news 4 today and throughout the day here on nbc 4. >> back in our area, a car accident in anne arundel county killed two people and injured a third. this happened around 10:30 last night on donaldson avenue and walnut grove. the victims were pronounced dead at the scene. there's no word on the third victim's condition. police are trying to figure out what happened.

coming up, a rash of robberies in near hot spots for night life in d.c. why some say the crimes are getting more disturbing. the new crackdown the department of transportation is launching today to get to you put down your cell phone. from extreme heat to severe weather. the big changes in our forecast. weather and t

the time is 6:41. welcome back to new 4 today. following two major developing stories. on the right-hand side of your screen, joe manchin of west virginia talking about the rescue efforts to try to find four miners in a mine in west virginia. and on the left-hand side, president obama in prague. let's listen in. >> under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, which must be the foundation for global nonproliferation. while the new start treaty is an important first step forward, it's just one step on a longer journey. as i said last year in prague, this treaty will set the stage for further cuts. in going forward we hope to pursue discussions with russia

on reducing our strategic and tactical weapons. we also agreed to expand our discussions on missile defense. this will include regular exchanges of information on threat assessment as well as a completion of an assessment of emerging ballistic missiles. >> president obama and president medvedev just signed a nuclear arms treaty. the president saying this is the first in a long journey to reduce nuclear weapons. we'll bring you more. right now a check on weather and traffic. we'll start with chuck bell in storm center4. chuck? >> good morning to you. good morning, everybody. temperatures in the upper 60s and low 70s. one more summer feel to this morning. tomorrow morning by this time, temperatures will be 20 to 25 degrees colder than this. so enjoy it if you like it this way. increasing clouds, showers and

thunderstorms by this evening. the heaviest will be arriving after about 8:00. some of them could be strong to severe. we will keep a weather eye to the sky. seven-day in ten minutes. jerry? >> let's look at 95 northbound, ebbing and flowing, dale city to the 14th street bridge. no accidents, just a lot of volume out there. let's head over to maryland and see how we're doing. south of town, the inner loop looking good. the outer loop moving along nicely. braddock road, a serious accident, the intersection is shut down now. >> jerry, thank you very much. >> 6:43 is your time. coming up, breaking news out of prince george's county. a large fire forces a number of families out of their home. why ems was forced to take a shooting victim to the hospital in a fire truck. >> and the new tiger woods

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we are following breaking news out of prince george's county where a fire at a townhouse complex forced dozens of people out of their homes. that fire started in the 7800 block of jacobs in the greenbelt. >> some of the families have lost basically everything here. the damage was so extensive in their town homes. let's look at some video we shot here recently from behind this row of town houses. you can get an idea for the extent of the damage, the back of several of these town homes, completely gone. everything just collapsed down into the basement. now, they believe this fire started in the unit on the very, very end. and then spread up the back of that town home, went up to the roof and shot across several of the other homes that were immediately connected to it. we have three town homes that are basically a complete loss here. we have two others that also

have some damage, smoke and water-type damage. we have a number of families who are just not able to get back into their homes for a long time. there's a lot of damage here. as residents, witnesses who saw all of this happening say t really spread quickly. >> it was spreading fast. really fast because of the wind. it went from the first house to the second house, and then the third house they put a hole in the roof. it stopped it from going to the fourth house. it was -- the flames. >> there's no indication that there's anything suspicious about this fire at all. it is likely an accident of some kind. everyone is okay. back to you. >> megan, thank you. a warning this morning for people in northwest washington. police are investigating a rash of robberies in just the past week. 11 robberies have been reported since march 29th.

most have occurred between the u street and dupont circle neighborhoods. the most disturbing happened tuesday night in the 1400 block of q street. three men attacked a pedestrian even though there were several witnesses in the area. police believe one of the suspects may be the same in several of those robberies. there are more ambulances on the streets of d.c. this morning after an unexpected shortage. on tuesday between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., d.c. fire and ems received over 300 calls. the department usually receives between 425 and 450 calls over a 24-hour period. workers were so overloaded, a shooting victim had to be taken to the hospital on a fire truck. the record-breaking heat, the large crowds to the cherry  blossom festival drove the calls well above normal levels. today tiger woods returns to

professional golf. he tees off this afternoon in the first round of the masters. tiger played in the masters more than a dozen times, but this will be the first time his golf game may not be the focus. christian dahlgren joins us live with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, eun. i know you guys have seen that ad, that's what a lot of people are talking about as we start to see fans here. tiger woods will tee off in the second to the last group this afternoon. he's after his 15th major and his fifth masters title. everybody in looking to see if he can win a return after that scandal that really rocked his life and has kept him out of the game for the past four months. >> reporter: as tiger woods prepared for what is likely the most anticipated round of golf in history, came a voice from the past. >> tiger. >> reporter: a recording of his late father who has some

questions for his son. >> i want to find out what your thinking was, i want to find out what your feelings are. and did you learn anything? >> reporter: but earl woods wasn't the only voice with words for tiger. from the chairman of the masters on wednesday, the message was harsh. >> our hero did not live up to the expectations of the role model we sought for our children. >> reporter: so, even after days of practice, and that press conference and dozens of autographs that the old tiger would have never signed -- >> it was really shocking i got the autograph twice. >> reporter: at the start of golf's most storied tournament stories of tiger's alleged infidelities still cast shadow over his return to the spotlight. >> this is a test he has never had to experience before. he is stepping into unknown territory. >> reporter: stepping off the first tee with him is matt kutcher. >> it's exciting. i got a front row seat for a memorable time in history.

you know, the tiger woods story is fascinating. it's captivated the world, and it will be nice to get him back in the golf arena. >> reporter: woods now hoping his game leaves him not just champion of the masters, but the master of the comeback. woods tees off at 1:42 this afternoon. this week's practice rounds are any indication there will be thousands of people following him along the course. so far they have been respectful, but analysts are split on what they'll see out there. some think after all of this, woods has a chance of winning. others think he may be going home early. >> we shall see. christian dahlgren, thank you. this morning a major airline merger may be in the works. cnbc's courtney reagan has details. good morning to you. >> reporter: cnbc has confirmed reports that us airways and united are in merger talks, though neither airline is

commenting. the deal would create the second largest airline. talks aim at cutting costs and competing with nortest. they have been down this tarmac before. in 2000, the $4 billion merger was shot down by the unions and justice department. in 2008, three-way talks involving continental also met troubles with its pilots union. a toyota executive wrote we need to come clean about the gas pedal problems, he said the time to hide on this one is over. the e-mail was written five days before toyota announced the massive recall. and the u.s. golf. is stepping up efforts to stop drivers from texting and using cell phones. the "wall street journal" says uncle sam is funding pilot programs to ticket distracted drivers. the year-long enforcement company starts today modeled after the click it or ticket

program. >> we got to do something. >> yeah. keep it safe. >> let's check on the forecast with chuck bell life in the storm center. >> good morning, eun and joe. off to a pleasant start. temperatures are mild. the sun is up in our eastern sky. plenty of blue still out there. current temperature, 70 degrees, a light south breeze. the warmest first week of april on record. 15 degrees warmer than average for the first full week. doppler radar shows rain showers moving into far western west virginia. those showers will be arriving here about 12 hours from now. sort of be on the ready for that. you can see on the broader view that big plume of rain showers and thunderstorms moving in our direction, part of a we're front that promises to bring an end to this early summer preview. the best chances of rain showers with embedded thunderstorms a possibility between 6:00 tonight

and midnight tonight. rain should be out of here by morning rush hour tomorrow. cooler weather moves in for tomorrow. beautiful weather for the weekend. that slight risk for severe weather up and down the eastern seaboard. today's high temperatures in the mid 80s, jerry. temperatures will be only in the 50s tomorrow. >> checking out the commute along 270 southbound to 370. travel lanes are open. a report of an accident on 370 near shady grove road. out on the rails at this hour, the earlier delays on mark rail, they have cleared. all are looking good at this hour. that's how we're doing now. eun, back to. it was a terror scare caused by a diplomat's undiplomatic behavior. he sneaked a smoke and people thought he may be trying to set

off a bomb. tracee wilkins joins us live from reagan national airport on how the man's words added to the confusion. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. when they say no smoking on a plane, they mean it. last night one diplomat and a planeful of passengers found out how serious they are about this. it was a united airs flight that took off from reagan on its way to denver. a passenger complained of smelling smoke coming from a bathroom. a crew member questioned the man in the bathroom about it, and he said i was trying to light a shoe is what he said. turns out he was trying to put a cigarette out on his shoe. it caused some fighter jets to come in and u.s. marshals to take him into custody. when he landed, he was take noon custody by law enforcement. they believe he was not trying to do anything to harm anyone. tracee wilkins, live at reagan national airport, back to you. >> thanks. now to a developing story in west virginia. where rescuers have resumed

their search for four missing mino miners. the air quality is good enough now for rescue teams to get back inside. elaine reyes has the latest. >> good morning. the rescue teams went in before 5:00 this morning. governor joe manchin just wrapped up a live update describing their plan of action. let's listen in to what he had to say. >> a lot depends on the conditions they went to. right now we're in a full rescue. rescue is basically that we have four unaccounted for. we want to make sure we're able to locate and hopefully by some miracle and sliver of hope that we have, we find somebody. and we do know that our only chances is if somebody could have gotten to the chamber. >> the governor says he has been spending time with the miner's families, and despite the bleak outlook, there's hope for the missing four. right now he is going back to monitor the rescue efforts and will hold another update at 8:30

a.m. this morning. >> president obama signed a new arms reduction treaty with russia it happened in prague within the new half hour. the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty shrinks both countries arsenals by one-third. >> thank you for starting your thursday with us. >> hope you have a great day. we start now at 4:30 a.m. we'll see you tomorrow.

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